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DAILY NZ P A G E 1E C O L O R P U B D A T E 06-17-06 O P E R A T O R RREINHARD D A T E // T I M E :
DAILY NZ P A G E 1E C O L O R P U B D A T E 06-17-06 O P E R A T O R RREINHARD D A T E // T I M E :
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SAN ANTONIO
EXPRESS-NEWS
SATURDAY
JUNE 17, 2006
SECTION E
SpacesWindows and an open floor plangive a home a light, airy feelPAGE 10E
Midnight has always held a certainmystique. It is the forbidden fruit ofthe life clock. From fairy tales tomonster movies, it is the bewitchinghour when things happen. Interestingthings. Carriages turn back intopumpkins, mild mannered mensprout hair as they transform intowerewolves and the streets turn toorgies of violence and mayhem whilethe rivers run red with blood. Well,
that is what I alwaysimagined. As you getolder, midnight is
just the opposite ofnoon. When you areawake to see mid-night in your 40s, it
just means you willbe tired tomorrow.
Ah, but midnightfor the young is awe-some. It begins as thegoal of all adolescentsleepovers. The planincludes movies, pop-corn, sleeping bagsand staying up untilmidnight. It is a mini
New Years Eve in footie pajamas.As one enters her teens, midnight
at home becomes rather pedestrian.The true thrill of midnight is beingout and about among the creatures ofthe night. Besides the usual themepark visits and middle-of-the-nighttrips to Wal-Mart, my daughters andI havent done a lot of midnight out-ings. That is what made last week-
end so special. I decided to take thegirls to a midnight movie. But ourfirst midnight movie wasnt just atrip to the safe and sound theaters ofSan Antonio. I decided to take themto a theater on Hollywood Boulevardin Hollywood, Calif. At midnight. Ifyou are going to be a bear, be a griz-zly.
Knowing we would be in Californiawhen the Disney/Pixar movie Carsopened, I sort of promised the girlswe would see it at the El CapitanTheater in Hollywood. I sort of prom-ised we could go opening day. I sortof do things like that without think-ing it through. I didnt think about itbeing sold out. Sold out it was.
El Capitan Theater was the jewelof Hollywood Boulevard back when itopened on May 3, 1926, as Holly-woods First Home of SpokenDrama. Clark Gable and Joan Fon-
taine appeared in plays there. In1941, Orson Welles premiered Citi-zen Kane there. The theater, as wellas the boulevard, is steeped in his-tory.
Hollywood Boulevard has a reputa-tion for being interesting. DespiteDisneys presence and the KodakTheaters arrival, it still has aPretty Woman aspect to it. But apromise is a promise. Since everyshowing of Cars was sold out ex-cept the midnight showing, I bought
Midnight
turns cubsinto grizzlies
MICHAELOROURKE
See OROURKE/4E
Zexmenia(Wedelia hispida)
Tough times call for tough plants,and zexmenia proves its a survivor byblooming in the current blistering con-
ditions.The evergreen perennial producesyellow daisylike flowers that measureabout an inch across. In full sun, theplant grows upright and takes the formof a small shrub. With some shade, ittends to stretch and sprawl as a groundcover.
Foliage has a rough texture and canirritate the skin.
Light: Sun to part sun.
Size: 2 to 3 feet tall; 2 feet wide.
Water: Drought tolerant.
Bloom: May through October.
Cultivation: Shear the plant back inmidsummer to keep it in good form.Needs good drainage but adapts to avariety of soils.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON WILDFLOWER CENTER
G O O D T O GR OW
BY MARY HEIDBRINK
EXPRESS-NEWS STAFF WRITER
The Japanese word for itis moribana. Directlytranslated, it meansheap of flowers. Thatsnot a very poetic way to
describe artful flower arrange-ments that emphasize the spacesbetween the stems as much as thematerials used.
As Don Olsen teaches about mo-ribana and other forms of ikebana,the Japanese art of flower arrang-ing, he weaves in lessons in thelanguage. The spiked floral frogthat holds the stems is a kenzan,meaning sword mountain. Heprefers the Japanese term to theless-graceful English names.
Student Alicia Leff learnedabout Japanese culture from her
parents, who fell in love with itwhile living in California. WhenLeffs mother died 18 years ago,she left a box of ikebana supplies.
Her mother would talk about theJapanese genius for revealingbeauty and simplicity, discussionsthat stayed with Leff. I have al-ways wanted to do this very specif-ic thing, she says.
On a recent Saturday, Leff at-tended her first ikebana classalong with 16 other students at theSan Antonio Museum of Art.Three more classes will be offered
June 24 and July 8 and 22 and will cover a variety of ar-
Ikebana students look at spaces as well as stems
See ARRANGEMENTS/5E
BILLY CALZADA/STAFF
Heather Snow carefully trims the cedar elm branches in an arrangementshes making during an ikebana class taught by Don Olsen at the San An-tonio Museum of Art.
Japanese-style arrangements, as taught in museum
class, stress natural, seasonal materials.
D
BY TRACY HOBSON LEHMANN
EXPRESS-NEWS HOME & GARDEN EDITOR
Like everyone these days,John Kight is looking forrain. Like the rest of us, hewants relief from the miser-able heat and drought.
But Kight has another interest,perhaps a more significant one: Hemade a vow to his wife.
He promised me I would alwayshave water, says Mary Evelyn Kight.
Unlike most folks, the Kights rely
solely on rain for their water needs.Every drop of water for drinking,cooking, bathing, cleaning and lawn
irrigation attheir housenorth ofBoernecomes viathe clouds.And evenwith thedry spellthats lin-gered sinceDecember2004, theKightsarent con-cernedabout beingparched.
The biggreen tanks
out backstill holdabout 21,000gallons ofwater,roughlytwo-thirdsof the30,000-galloncapacity,capturedfrom roof-top runoff.Even with-out a dropof rain,Kight fig-ures thatamount
would keep the faucets flowing forthe better part of a year without anylawn watering.
With 2 to 3 inches of rain, well befull again, he says.
PHOTOS BY WILLIAM LUTHER/STAFF
A glass of water from John Kights 30,000-gallon rainwater-collection system is crystal clear. In the topphoto, Kight stands next to one of the tanks that store the water at the home near Boerne he shareswith his wife, Mary Evelyn. John Kight designed the system.
See RAINFALL/12E
A three-personhousehold would useabout 99 gallons ofwater a day indoorsand 45 outdoors. Thedaily rundown andthe household total:
Faucets: 5 minutesper person, 1.5 gal-lons a minute. Total:22.5 gallons.
Showers: 5 minutesper person, 2 gallonsa minute. Total: 30gallons.
Toilets: 6 flushes per
person, 2 gallons perflush. Total: 36 gal-lons.
Washing machine: 3loads per week, 16gallons per load. To-tal: 48 gallons aweek. (Thats basedon a front-loadingwashing machine;top-loading machinesuse about 40 gallonsper load.)
Dishwasher: 4 loadsper week, 8 gallonsper load. Total: 32gallons a week.Source: John Kight
Water use
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SEMINAR AND TOUR
What: John Kight will discussrainwater collection in a seminarsponsored by Cibolo NatureCenter. Participants can seeKights system firsthand.
When: 9 a.m.-noon June 24.
Where: Meet at Cibolo NatureCenter parking lot, 140 City ParkRoad, off Texas 46 East, Boerne.Car-pool to Kight residence.
Cost: Members, $15; couples $20.Nonmembers, $20, couples $25.
Reservations: Limited to 30people. Call (830) 249-4616.
ON THE WEB
American Rainwater CatchmentSystems Associationwww.arcsa-usa.orgGroup founded in Austin in 1994to promote rainwater catchmentin the U.S. Site includes links tosuppliers of materials for
rainwater collection systems.
Texas Water Development Boardwww.twdb.state.tx.usDownload the agencys 88-pagehandbook that covers systemconfiguration, water quality andtreatment. Web site features acalculator to help propertyowners design a system.
Texas Cooperative Extensionhttp://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.eduSite explains the development ofa system to collect rainwater forirrigating the landscape.
DAILY NZ P A G E 12E C O L O R P U B D A T E 06-17-06 O P E R A T O R PDAVID D A T E // T I M E :
DAILY NZ P A G E 12E C O L O R P U B D A T E 06-17-06 O P E R A T O R PDAVID D A T E // T I M E :
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12E SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS SATURDAY,JUNE 17,2006
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Kight, 71, designed and in-stalled the rainwater collectionsystem for the hilltop home heand Mary Evelyn moved into inAugust 2002. They lived in thefinished-out garage for a year astheir 3,500-square-foot house was
being built. All the while, theyverelied on rain, with no backupwater supply.
In planning the system, the re-tired engineer pored over climatedata and studied his householdwater use. His meticulous re-cords show daily water use in-doors of a fairly steady 70 gallonsper day. Factor in last years land-scape watering, and the numbermore than doubles to an annual-ized average of 146 gallons a day.
Kight looked at annual rainfallin Boerne, which averages about36 inches a year, and at thedrought of record in the 1950s in which there was no rain for100 days. From his standing-seammetal roof, which covers 6,400square feet, he can collect 4,000gallons of water from every inchof rain. Crunching all those num-bers, and padding the days with-out rain to 120, he arrived at the30,000-gallon storage capacity.
I always want to be a little bitconservative, he says. Now hesadding three 1,550-gallon tanksbecause, he says, Mary Evelynsees water being lost in heavyrains.
Like the Kights, more people inthe Hill Country are going backto the water-supply systems ofour forefathers. Weighing the cost and risk of drilling a wellagainst the cost of a rainwater-harvesting system was a factorfor Kight.
The aquifers in the Hill Coun-try definitely have sweet spots,but theres a risk of not gettingwater, says Chris Brown, a SanAntonio-based water conserva-
tion consultant and principal co-author of the third edition of theTexas Manual on RainwaterHarvesting, a publication of theTexas Water Development Board.Unlike previous versions of themanual, which focused mainlyon using rainwater collection forlandscape watering, the updatedmanual, released in spring 2005,devotes more attention to captur-ing potable water.
Brown estimates the cost of awhole-house rainwater collectionsystem around $15,000, in linewith what Kight spent on his sys-tem. Prices vary according to thesize and material of the cisterns.
At Bohnert Lumber Co. inComfort, a 2,500-gallon polypropy-lene tank costs $800, says SteveBohnert. Eight of the tanks wouldcollect 20,000 gallons of water at
$6,400. A well is going to costyou three times that amountnow, Bohnert says. Wood andmetal tanks cost more, but Bohn-ert says he has seen homeownersdisguise poly tanks by wrappingthem with cedar stays or galvan-ized metal.
Polyethylene tanks that hold3,000 gallons cost $1,000 each atGolden Eagle Landscape in In-gram, a company that sells equip-ment and installs rainwater-har-vesting systems. The biggest costvariable in installation is inbuilding a pad for the tanks, says
landscape designer KatherineCrawford. Digging into a hillside,building a retaining wall andbackfilling it will drive up thecost, she notes.
Required filters dont add sig-nificantly to the cost, but home-owners do need to have sufficientrooftop areas, gutters and down-spouts. Some rainwater harves-ters elect to build rain barns,shedlike structures that concealtanks and provide collection areafor rain runoff.
When Sandy and Ral Pea ex-plored water options for theirproperty near Center Point nineyears ago, they got a $12,000 esti-mate for a well. Like the Kights,
they opted for rainwater collec-tion and have installed four 3,000-gallon cisterns in the basement ofthe home they are building.
It makes so much sense to usethe rain, says Sandy Pea. Itsfree, and were not punching an-other hole in the aquifer. The Pe-as tanks filled to their 12,000-gal-lon capacity with 10 inches ofrain more than a year ago, andthe Peas have used only smallamounts of the water in mixingmortar for the house. Now, theyrely on tanks that capture 6,500gallons of water from their work-
shop and the 12-by-16-foot cabinthey live in.
Both the Peas and the Kightsnote the high quality of their wa-ter.
By the time we actually drinkour water, its almost the qualityof water used for kidney dialy-sis, says Sandy Pea, who re-signed from her job as adminis-trator of the department of hu-man and molecular genetics atBaylor College of Medicine inHouston when she and her hus-band moved to western KerrCounty in 1996. Ral Pea retiredas a software developer for ShellOil and has designed the rainwa-
ter-collection systems they use.When friends come over, the
first thing they want to do is havea drink of our water, she says.
Mary Evelyn Kight says theydidnt use water from their sys-tem until it was analyzed in Kerr-ville. Now, John Kight refers torecords from twice-a-year testing.The water is soft but a differ-ent soft, because soap rinses offeasily, the Kights note and itmeasures 5 on total dissolved sol-ids. Environmental ProtectionAgency standards cap total dis-solved solids at 1,000 in public wa-ter supplies.
Thats about as close to noth-
ing as youre going to get, saysJohn Kight.
In each of the systems, waterfrom gutters passes first througha roof washer that filters out dust,leaves, blooms and bird drop-pings. Kight uses a sock filtermade of double-weave shade clothprimarily to catch oak blooms.
You do not want organic mate-rial in the storage tanks, he says.It sours the water. From the cis-terns, the Kights potable watergoes through a series of three fil-ters. A 5-micron cloth filtercatches the first particles, thenthe water passes through a 3-mi-cron charcoal filter. Remember, ahair is 30 microns, Kight notes.
From there, it goes through a
UV filter to zap any bacteria.The result is crystal-clear water
that doesnt leave sediment on fix-tures all thanks to the rain.
All you have to do is collectenough water in rainy times toget you through about threemonths without rain, SandyPea says. We have a years sup-ply of water.
Brown notes a weather adagethat applies to the Hill Country:Our climate can be adequatelydescribed as drought punctuatedby flood. He adds, Rain maycome infrequently in CentralTexas, but it does come.
Still, rainwater harvesters suchas the Peas and Kights must usewater frugally.
If youre going to use rainwa-ter, you have to buy into the con-servation lifestyle, says Brown.
The Kights have a front-loadingwasher, which uses about 16 gal-lons per load compared withmore than 40 gallons for a stan-
dard top-loading model. Still,notes Mary Evelyn Kight with asmile, he lets me take one longshower a week.
They also used drought-tolerantSahara Bermuda grass in theirlandscape and put down about 8inches of topsoil over the solidrock so the grass could establisha deeper root system. Mary Eve-lyn Kight irrigates only the smallfront yard, and only when itsstressed. The grass is deep greenin the front, and shes run thesprinklers only twice this year.She will water more frequently and take two long showers a week when the new tanks are filled.
And her husband is keepinghis promise of a lasting watersupply.
Rainfall collectors have good water, and lots of itCONTINUED FROM 1E
PHOTOS BY WILLIAM LUTHER/STAFF
ABOVE: Ral andSandy Pea are al-most dwarfed bythe tanks that holdthe rainwater theycollect at theirwestern KerrCounty home. Theirsystem, like theKights, provides alltheir water.
LEFT: John Kightshows the UV filter(at right) that de-stroys bacteria inthe collected water,which is well-fil-tered first.
RESOURCES
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DAILY NZ P A G E 1E C O L O R P U B D A T E 05-21-05 O P E R A T O R RREINHARD D A T E // T I M E :
DAILY NZ P A G E 1E C O L O R P U B D A T E 05-21-05 O P E R A T O R RREINHARD D A T E // T I M E :
SAN ANTONIO
EXPRESS-NEWS
SATURDAY
MAY 21, 2005
SECTION E
SpacesA couple collected
Texas-anything and everythingto decorate their homePAGE 10E
1976 was the summer of thebicentennial, the Summer ofSam and the summer I gotscrewed on my summer vaca-tion. Almost 30 years later Imstill bitter.
What do you mean schoolstarts in mid-August? I can stillhear myself asking. Moving toTexas from California that sum-mer was traumatic enough onmy 12-year-old psyche, but theloss of cherished summer vaca-
tion seemed al-most too muchto bear. August?August is stillsummer every-where else.Why isnt Au-gust summerhere?
It is a ques-tion that hasbothered meever since. Kidsgetting onschool buses in100 degree heatis abusive.When you see
Jerry Lewis on television for 24hours straight you should bepreparing for school to start, notalready burned out by it.
Lo and behold, on the 30th an-niversary of my worst summerever, injustice may finally berighted. It looks like a billpoised to become a law will re-
quire Texas schools to begin onthe Tuesday after Labor Dayand end by June 7th.
Yes!
The new, normal school yearhas people deeply divided. Thepro-normal people say it willsave money on electricity, helptourism and give families moresummer time together. The anti-normal (pro-abnormal) peopleclaim the longer summer takesaway local control, will force old-er students to take finals afterChristmas break and may im-pede TAKS test preparedness. (Italways comes down to the TAKStest doesnt it?)
Bottom line: Students will stillhave to go to school for 180 daysand they will still spend a dis-proportionate amount of theirlives preparing for the TAKS
test. They will lose a few days ofschooltime breaks, but that isworth a longer summer.
What will be different is
In praise
of normalAugust
See OROURKE/4E
MICHAELOROURKE
Prickly pear(Optunia spp.)
With potentially vicious spines,prickly pears arent invited intotoo many residential landscapes.But the sunny yellow blossomsdotting the cactus pads in pas-tures this time of year make theplant tempting. Just opt for aspineless variety unless you areusing the plant as part of your se-curity system.
In 1995, Texas lawmakersnamed prickly pear the stateplant, making the Lone Star Statethe only state with an officialplant.
The light green color of thepads and their sculptural shapemake the plant an asset in thegarden.
Light: Sun.
Size: 2 to 5 feet tall; 4 to 6 feetwide.
Water: Drought tolerant.
Bloom: Spring.
Cultivation: Needs good drain-age.
GO O D T OG R OW
TRACY HOBSON LEHMANN
Years, like shears, shape a garden.
Weeks introduce fresh buds, new leaves.
Months coax roots to settle into the soil.
Seasons instill maturity and character.
Decades plant delights.
Time is Mother Natures tool.
As the San Antonio Botanical Garden
celebrates its 25th anniversary, we explore
delights that have sprung up in a quarter-
century of growing and evolving. The 33-acre
center yields a bountiful crop of surprises.
Turn to Page 12E for the 25 we plucked.
A birthday crop
of abundant beauty
S T O R Y B Y T R A C Y H O B S O N L E H M A N N
P H O T O S B Y L I S A K R A N T Z A N D H E L E N L . M O N T O Y A
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DAILY NZ P A G E 12E C O L O R P U B D A T E 05-21-05 O P E R A T O R DHILDEBR D A T E // T I M E :
DAILY NZ P A G E 12E C O L O R P U B D A T E 05-21-05 O P E R A T O R DHILDEBR D A T E // T I M E :
12E SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS SATURDAY,MAY21,2005D
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BY MARY BETH BRECKENRIDGE
KNIGHT RIDDER
Displaying a collection of fam-ily photographs on your wallshonors your heritage while add-ing warmth to your home.
However, whats intended asan infusion of personality canend up a mess if its not ar-ranged artfully, said KarenThompson, a design expert withHome Depot.
The first step to an effectivearrangement is choosing a spotwhere the photos wont be sub- jected to damage. Avoid directsunlight, heat sources and areaswith high humidity, such asbathrooms, Thompson said.
Next, choose frames and matsthat will enhance the photosand make the collection cohe-sive. Thompson recommendedsticking with a limited selectionof similar frames, especially ifyoure displaying both color andblack-and-white photos. If youcant afford new frames, paint
old ones to make them coordi-nate. She also recommended us-ing wide mats in a neutralcream color.
Now comes the creative part:arranging. Thompson suggested
making a trial grouping on thewall using photocopies of thepictures in their frames and at-taching them with low-tackpainters tape. Its helpful tomark off a perimeter as a guideand to treat the entire arrange-ment as one large piece of art,she said.
Aim for overall symmetry, sheadvised, but remember that alittle asymmetry adds interest.Try to keep the distance be-tween frames relatively consis-tent and the pictures no morethan a few inches apart.
Make sure the arrangement isat or near the eye level fromwhich it will be viewed most ofthe time. Artwork should behung lower in an area such as adining room where people usu-ally are seated, and higher in anarea such as a hallway wheretheyre usually standing.
When youre satisfied withthe arrangement, mark the wallat the middle of the top edge ofthe photocopies while theyre
still on the wall. Measure thedistance between the top of theframe and the hanging mecha-nism, either a hook or tautwire. Hang the pictures securelyusing appropriate hardware.
A C C E N T O N H O M E
MIKE HASKEY/COLUMBUS LEDGER-ENQUIRER
Theres a trick to finding the best placement for art collections, asGeri Davis (left) and Jennifer Campbell of Columbus, Ga., know.
Tips keep collectionsfrom looking cluttered
In a garden, any day can be asurprise party. Look closelyamong the leaves, along thepaths and little quirks revealthemselves.
In honor of the 25th anniver-sary of the San Antonio BotanicalGarden, we poked around the 33acres and harvested a delight for
each year. Horticulturist Paul Cox,whos been at the garden fromthe construction phase and isnow the top guy there, and Can-dace Andrews, managing directorof the San Antonio Botanical So-ciety, shared insights in thesearch.
Heres what we found, startingat the entrance and circlingthrough the grounds counter-clockwise.
Sullivan CarriageHouse
Designed by archi-tect Alfred Giles andbuilt in 1896, the car-riage house was
moved stone by stone to the gar-dens in 1987. Now, visitors enterthrough the former coach houseand stables. Guests can dine inthe former horse stalls of the Car-
riage House Kitchen.
Pot manThe terra cotta
guys ready for sum-mer in his flip-flops,but dont be surprisedto see him decked
out for football season or show-ing Spurs spirit.
Wisteria arborPerfect for I dos,
especially when itsdripping with fragrantpurple blooms inspring.
Hoja santaAmid the many tex-
tures and scents of theGarden for the Blind isthe hoja santa. Tearoff a bit of a large
heart-shaped leaf and take awhiff of the root beer fragrance.
Free passThe San Antonio
Garden Center picksup the admission tabfor blind guests.
Turtle rockThe stone turtle,
really a cluster ofstones, looks as if hesclimbing out of thepond in KumamotoEn.
Ants in the plantsTucked among the
exotic plants in the Ex-hibition Room of theconservatory areplants that play host
to ants, some of them quite ag-gressive defenders of the flora.Dont worry. Only the plants areon display.
Alien floraWith its long strap-
like leaves, the Wel-witschia in the HelenKleberg Desert Pavil-ion looks like some-
thing from another planet. Theplant, native to the Namib Des-ert, baffles even the botanistswho try to classify it.
Giant seedIt doesnt take an
adolescent to see themonkey butt in the gi-ant seed in the Palmand Cycad House, but
kids do love the spectacle. From
the 25-pound seed sprouts a cocode mer.
Birds eye viewFollow the winding
path through thepalm house to a cat-walk that gives a peekat the treetops. The
idea for the walkway came fromthe botanic garden conservatoryin Paris.
King of the jungleThe 8-foot-long
fronds on the angiop-teris or king fern make it hard to miss.And its still growing.
This Australia native is primitiveamong primitive ferns.
Right stuffingThe spiny trunk on
the kapok tree in theconservatory courtyard
conceals the plantssofter side. Kapok
seeds yield cottonlike fiber that isused to stuff everything from pil-lows to life vests.
High pointThe overlook, the
highest point insideLoop 410, offers beau-tiful panoramas of thecity.
Water worksRemnants of George
Brackenridges watersupply system fromthe late 1800s remainon the hill. The wall of
the former holding tank nowborders the amphitheater.
Little sproutsYoungsters spend
Saturday morningstending vegetableplots under the tutel-age of experienced
gardeners. A bonus: They eattheir veggies.
Goingbatty
For-merly ontop ofthe hill,the ga-zebo is patterned after a bathouse because the city used to bean epicenter of the bat popula-tion.
DuckyThe fowl at the East
Texas Lake appreciatehandouts. Birders ap-preciate the variety of
waterfowl and other birdsthroughout the gardens.
Sit a spellThe inviting porch
on the East Texas LogCabin overlooks thelake.
MadroneA lone madrone
survived floods in1987 that claimedothers. The hardy na-tive specimen is start-
ing to bloom.
Schumacher HouseThe recently refur-
bished cottage, origi-nally built in Freder-icksburg in 1849,shows the evolution
of German building styles.
Mini scapesA stroll down Wa-
tersaver Lane gives aglimpse at a half-doz-en landscape stylesthat illustrate the di-
verse possibilities with plantssuited to the area. Take a closelook at the recycled glass walk-way in the cottage garden. Whatsparkle.
Makingmagic
Toiling be-hind thescenes ingreenhouses and trial gardens isYing Doon Moy, the brilliant re-search horticulturist behind anumber of papayas, gingers, rosesand hibiscuses bred for SouthTexas.
Bubbling overThe symbol-stuffed
fountain in the Sa-cred Garden is carvedfrom the same Oaxa-can granite as the
head of the plaza fountain andthe large planters lining theplaza.
BubbaFrom a sapling res-
cued from the SunkenGardens grew Bubba,a maroon-floweringdesert willow. The va-
riety is now the top-selling desertwillow.
Texas touchWhen a stonemason
was laying the walk-way around the Old-Fashioned Garden, heplanted a surprise of
his own: a piece of limestonechipped into the shape of theLone Star State.
Tracy Hobson Lehmann
A birthday bash spread overtwo days and more than 30 acresis quite a party. And Viva Botan-ica is quite a party.
The festival this year marksthe 25th anniversary of the SanAntonio Botanical Garden. Yes,
there will be cake for the silveranniversary.
The celebration runs from9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today andSunday at the garden, 555 Fun-ston Place.
Admission costs $8 for adults,
$4 for children ages 3 to 13.Gardeners will find a variety
of plants for sale, includingherbs, orchids, day lilies, cac-tuses, bonsai and drought-toler-ant varieties.
Bands will offer a variety of
music. Visitors can participatein bird and butterfly walks, andthere will be special activitiesfor children.
For more information, visitwww.sabot.org or call (210) 829-5100.
Cake, music to mark Botanical Gardens birthday
ON THE COVERClockwise from top right:Turtle rock in Kumamoto En Gar-den; cupola on the Sullivan Car-riage House; kapok tree in theLucile Halsell Conservatory; a mal-low hibiscus; the seed of the cocode mer, aka monkey butt; a jas-
mine-shrouded arbor shades theentrance to a cottage on Water-saver Lane; fence bordering theJapanese garden.
Digging up delights
The Lucile Halsell Conservatory soars above the Botanical Garden.
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PHOTOS BY DOUG SEHRES, LISA KRANTZAND HELEN L. MONTOYA/STAFF
8/14/2019 Combined 3
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SAN ANTONIO
EXPRESS-NEWS
SATURDAY
OCTOBER 20, 2007
SECTION E
Green, with envy?
South Texas gardeners
practice their hobby underdifficult conditions: the
weathers either too dry or
too wet; the heat takes its
toll, then freezes come.
And theres the soil or lack
thereof.
Those folks with four
distinct seasons and rich soil
have it made.
This weeks question:
If you could garden
anywhere else, where
would it be?
Keyword: Gardening
M Y S A . C O M
For some of you, it might beRicci Ware, Judd Ashmore orBruce Hathaway. For others itmight have been Randy Car-roll, Drex or Rio & Reyes. Formy little brother, it was Win-ston & Alyce. For my little sis-ter, it was Sonny Melendrez.For my daughter it is Dave E.Rios. For me, I cant tell you
how manytardy slips I re-ceived in highschool becauseI stayed in mycar to see whatJohn Lisle andSteve Hahnwere going tosay next.
We all havethat one radiopersonality weidentify withmost. Some ofus have morethan one. Wefeel like we
know them personally becausethey are the first voices wehear when the clock-radioalarm goes off. We feel like weknow them because theirvoices fill the kitchen, emanat-ing from the tiny pocket radio
that sits on the windowsill, aswe eat breakfast and pack alunch. They are already in thecar when you turn the key toaccompany you to work withtraffic and weather togetheron the (insert single digithere).
When they are hitting it outof the park and firing on allcylinders they are the voicesthat keep you in your car afew extra minutes before go-ing into school or work. Youcan tell when someone isspending some quality timewith his or her radio friends.The seatbelt is off, the back-pack, briefcase or purse is inthe lap and the right hand onthe key about to shut off theengine. But he cant. The lis-tener is waiting until what-
ever is transpiring on the ra-dio completes. He is waitingfor the revelation, waiting forthe punch line or waiting forthe answer to the trivia ques-tion he just knows he shouldhave known and will slap hisforehead when he hears it.
When I worked in radio, Itried to explain that to man-agement. The about-to-turn-the-key-but-cant moment iswhat all personality radioshould strive for. Managementdoesnt get it. Of all the mediain which I have worked, radiomanagement remains the mostclueless about the product itproduces. Managers dont un-derstand their listeners, theydont understand their on-airpersonalities and they dont
understand the emotion of ra-dio. There is a reason moststation managers come fromthe sales department.
I love radio. The same couldbe said for every San Antonioradio guy mentioned above.The reason the names reso-nate in our collective souls isbecause they are the tops oftheir game. They get radio.They get their listeners.
With all the advances in
Radio is
the mostpersonalmedium
MICHAELOROURKE
See OROURKE/11E
BY CLAIRE WHITCOMB
UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
Its a brave green worldout there. Every day,someone is inventingsomething for the home.
Like showers that recy-cle the water you use, thebrainchild of a London designstudent.
Or Herman Millers uphol-stered Mirra desk chair, whichis chic, ergonomic and 96 per-cent recyclable.
Or Vetrazzos eco-counter-tops, made with ceramic aggre-gate and recycled glass.
This sort of good news, alongwith global innovations and asprinkling of very solid eco-tips, has been gathered intoWorldchanging: A UsersGuide for the 21st Century(Abrams, $37.50). Edited byAlex Steffen, co-founder of theWeb site WorldChanging.com,the book is billed as a WholeEarth Catalog for a new gen-eration.
Indeed it is. With a prefaceby Al Gore, Worldchanging
is quirky, fun and full of sur-prises, even for seasoned eco-readers.
Flip through and you canlearn how to make iPod speak-ers out of Altoid tins. Youllalso be reminded that dim-mers, automatic timers andmotion-detection sensors areamong the top five things youcan do to conserve energy.
Worldchanging introducesyou to permeable pavementthat allows plants and grass togrow through it. And it re-minds you that a low-flowshowerhead the fixture thatmixes air with water and mi-raculously produces a strongspray is a really good idea.Indeed, Americans could save5.4 billion gallons of water perday simply by installing low-
flow fixtures and toilets.If you want to join those
who would rather make itthemselves than buy conven-tional products, Worldchang-ing directs you to
A guide
to livinggreener
Worldchanging has
tips, innovations for
eco-friendly choices.
D
See HOME/12E
Philippine violet(Barleria cristata)
The trumpet-shaped purpleflowers on the Philippine violetare attention-grabbers. They areabout 2 inches long, and theybloom in abundance this time ofyear. Set against the deep greenfoliage of the root-hardy peren-nial shrub, the flowers stand outfrom their shady spots in thelandscape.
The plant likes tropical condi-tions and will freeze back in
harsh winters. Trim back to theground, and it will sprout fromthe roots in spring.
The common name of Philip-pine violet is a bit of a mystery, asit originates in India and Myan-mar, and its not part of the violetfamily.
Plant in a perennial bed, andgive it plenty of space.
Light: Part shade to part sun.
Size: 4 to 5 feet tall; 3 feetwide.
Water: Moderate.
Bloom: Late summer throughfall.
Cultivation: Mulch to protectroots in winter.
GO O DTO G R OW
TRACY HOBSON LEHMANN
TOSS IT IN
GREEN (NITROGEN)
Vegetable and fruit peelings andscraps
Coffee grounds
Tea bags
Fresh-cut grass
Plant cuttings
Egg shells
Horse or chickenmanure
BROWN (CARBON)
Leaves
Twigs, wood chips
Dried grass
Straw, hay
Stale bread
Coffee filters
CUT IT UPChop or shred larger items such as
corn cobs, melon rinds, leaves andsticks.
LEAVE IT OUT Fats or oils
Meat, fish, bones
Pet waste (dog, cat, pig, reptile)
Ashes
Weeds that have gone to seed
Diseased plants
THE BIN
BUILD IT
Make a square bin from discardedpallets or a round container fromwire mesh or chicken wire.
Ideal size is 1 cubic yard, 3 by 3 by3 feet.
BUY IT
Choose from tumblers, twin binsor simple wire containers.
PLACE IT
Choose a location thats con-venient for adding waste.
Site should drainwell.
BUILD ITLAYER
Alternate layers of brown and greenmaterials.
Keep the ratio at 2 parts brown to 1
part green.Water each layer to keep the pile con-sistently moist.
Toss in a couple of scoops of compostor soil to jump-start the microbes.
STIRMix with a pitchfork or compost turnerto add air to the pile and speed the pro-cess.
WATER
Compost should feel like a wrung-outsponge: damp, not drippy, not dry.
USE IT
What somemight see as
a rottingtrash pile,gardenersview as a
heap of trea-sure. Refuse
from thekitchen andlawn holds
riches for thesoil. So pile
it up,let it breakdown, then
dig in. Tracy Hobson Lehmann
Compost can be finished in as littleas six weeks if the pile is turned fre-quently and the mix of ingredients isideal. Typically it takes about sixmonths to cook. Where to apply?
AROUND SHRUBS, TREESSpread compost around shrubs, pe-rennials and trees to nourish theirroots.
ON THE LAWNTop dress the lawn with a thin layerof compost and watch the grassgreen up.
IN THE GARDENWork compost into the soil in flowerbeds and the vegetable garden inspring or fall.
Keyword: GardeningMore about composting
TROUBLESHOOTINGThe compost pile will heat to about 140degrees in the decomposition process,resulting in a product with a rich, earthyaroma. If the mix of ingredients is out ofbalance, the microbes wont be able tobreak down the materials efficiently, andit might give off a foul odor or attractpests.
IT STINKSFoul smell: Could be too wet or lacking ox-ygen. Add dry material and mix well. Ammonia odor:Likely caused by addingtoo many grass clippings, which form adense mat. Add carbon to the pile andmix it up.
PESTSFruit flies: If the pests are attracted toyour kitchen pail, make sure it has a tight-fitting lid and empty it frequently. In thebin, cover kitchen scraps with a thin layerof leaves or soil.Fire ants: Pile could be too dry. Keepmoist, and make sure it has the propermix of materials to heat sufficiently.Varmints: Raccoons, skunks and othercritters might come looking for a meal. Todiscourage them:
Bury kitchen scraps in themiddle of the pile.
Avoid food with fat, meator dairy.
Keep thedoor se-
cured.
ABOVE PHOTO, COURTESY COMPOST BY KEN THOMPSON (DK PUBLISHING; $18);TOP PHOTO BY AKEYA DICKSON/WASHINGTON POST.
SOURCES: ORGANIC GARDENING, EARTHMACHINE.COM, TEXAS COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
SpacesMementos gathered from a lifeabroad fit perfectlyin a Mahncke Park homePAGE 10E
8/14/2019 Combined 3
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10E SAN ANTONIOEXPRESS-NEWS SATURDAY,APRIL 7,2007D
SPACES
Hidden
treasuresHistory abounds in the furnish-
ings of Harriette Gormans house.
She believes in using what she
has collected, everything from
17th- and 18th-century chairs to
fabrics woven in the early 19th
century, but shes not out of
touch with the 21st century.
Some modern conveniences can
become inconveniences when it
comes to aesthetics, so she tucks
them out of sight as much as
possible.
TUNING OUT TELEVISIONS
We all strive to find some-
thing to put our TVs in, Gorman
says of antiques aficionados. In
the living room, she tucked the
tube into a hand-grained corner
cabinet. In the kitchen, the set
sits behind the doors of a newly
built corner cabinet.
PARK THE APPLIANCES
When they said, Do you
want a garage in your kitchen? I
thought they were crazy, Gor-
man says. But she visits the ga-
rage every morning to access
her coffeemaker. She also stashes
other appliances behind the door
beneath the television in the cor-
ner cabinet.
HOLD THE PHONE
In her bedroom, Gorman dis-
plays a handmade silk folding
bonnet and other items atop a
maple chest. She tucks her tele-
phone discreetly behind a lamp
on the chest.
PUT A LID ON IT
A display of firkins lidded
buckets and churns bring a
dash of color to the kitchen with
their faded blue and green paint.
But they are utilitarian, too.
Thats where I keep dog food,
Gorman says. Tracy Hobson Lehmann
A mug holds flowers beside some old books, complementingthe view of the farm.
HOUSE RULES
BY TRACY HOBSON LEHMANN
EXPRESS-NEWS HOME & GARDEN EDITOR
COMFORT At 82, Harriette Gor-
man is one of the youngest things
in her house. Heck, she has tallow
candles that qualified as antiques
when she was born in 1925. And by then, some of
her chairs exceeded the definition of antique by a
century.
To me, a true antique is at least 100 years old,
says Gorman, who two months ago moved into a
German farmhouse that itself qualifies as an an-
tique. Completed in 1898, the two-story house be-
hind a wattle fence has a history fittingly rich for
the owners collection of collections.
She purchased the property, formerly an arma-
dillo farm, just outside Comfort six years ago.
Then, the porch and balcony that grace the front
of the house were crumbling, but what Gorman
describes as the deplorable condition of the struc-
ture didnt deter her.
I moved out here to get another challenge,
says Gorman, no novice at renovation as she
faced seven deteriorating buildings on the five
PHOTOS BY GLORIA FERNIZ/STAFF
Antiques collector rescues former armadillo farm from ruin, fills it with treasures
ABOVE: In the livingroom, Queen Annesconces hang besidea primitive paintingof a trio of girlshuddled under anumbrella. The paint-ing is above a hunt-board set with acollection of stonefruit.
RIGHT: A portrait ofGeorge Washingtonpresides over the li-brary, a room espe-cially rich in history.
PLACE OF HISTORY
Harriette Gorman treasures a portrait ofThomas Jefferson that hangs in the library.
See LIFETIME/11E
Keyword: SALifeFor more photos of Harriette Gormanshome and a look at past Spaces features
A settee and two Windsor chairs provide seating around a tilt-top chair table in the dining area of Harriette Gormans home in Comfort. The house will be part of a tour April 14.
8/14/2019 Combined 3
7/10
11ESAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS SATURDAY,APRIL7,2007D
There is a saying: One per-sons trash is another personstreasure. Collectors under-stand this better than mostother people. Old ads, milk bot-tles, worn shoes, spark plugs,barbed wire, insulators, creditcards, swizzle sticks, key-chaintags and empty boxes that once
held bullets all are seriouslycollected bygroups whohave evenformed clubs totrade informa-tion.
Did you everthink of savingold paper cups?Not just any
paper cup. It should be deco-rated to show it was used at anevent like a Worlds Fair or theOlympics. Or it should have animportant brand name or pic-ture celebrities. The cups deco-ration must indicate either anevent or a date.
The Dixie cup, one of theworlds oldest paper cups, was just an idea in 1907. The PublicCup Vendor Co. was incorpo-
rated in 1909 to make the cups,and by 1919 it was named theDixie Cup Co. At first no onewanted disposable cups, butduring the flu epidemic of 1918,laws banned public communaldrinking glasses. Soon papercups were also used to hold icecream and other products, and
more companies started manu-facturing throwaway contain-ers.
In 1930 pictures of animals orpresidents were added to Dixiecup ice-cream lids. Movie starswere featured in 1933 and warplanes and ships in the 1940s.Sample prices for cups from
past years by various manufac-turers include a Coca-Cola cup,1960, $20; Popeye on a HappyBirthday cup, 1950s, $8; DairyQueen cup, 1949, $8; and Votesfor Women, Empire States,1915, $200.
It pays to save trash.Q. I am 89 and still have a
1902 bathing suit that belongedto my mother. Its a navy-bluesailor suit with white trim, leg-gings and high, laced shoes.The shoes are not in goodshape, but the rest of it is.What do you think I could sellit for?A. Many suits the age of
your mothers came with leg-gings and shoes. Women tookthe shoes off, then went intothe water, leggings and all. Col-lectors of vintage clothing
might pay $100 or more foryour suit.
Write to Kovels, San AntonioExpress-News, King FeaturesSyndicate, 300 W. 57th St., 15th
Floor, New York, NY 10019.
Better look through trash again
This Tarzan ice-cream cup wasmade by Lily-Tulip Cup Corp. inthe 1930s. Hakes Americana andCollectibles of Timonium, Md.,priced it at $518. You can findpaper-cup collectibles for muchless, but this one is rare and inmint condition.
Current prices are recorded fromantiques shows, flea markets,sales and auctions throughoutthe United States. Prices vary indifferent locations because oflocal economic conditions.
Piggy bank, I Made ChicagoFamous, black, cast iron, Arcade,c. 1900, 4 inches, $255.
Deb-U-Teen Lunch and Thermobottle kit, Styrofoam thermos,Hasbro, 1950s, $455.
Cast-iron doorstop, Englishbulldog puppies in barrel, signedSteacy & Wilton Co.,Wrightsville, Pa., copyright 1932,634 by 814 inches, $695.
Ralph and Terry Kovel
CURRENT PRICES
RALPH ANDTERRY KOVEL
ANTIQUES &
COLLECTING
KING FEATURES SYNDICATE
acres. She and her husband, Bill,who died in 1996, restored a 1914hospital in town and lived there13 years.
When I walked in this awful-looking thing and I saw the walls,I said, Whoa. Wait a minute,she recalls, noting the 18-inch-thick double brick walls. Gormanfirst settled into a three-room cot-tage on the property, formerly thedisplay house at Apelt ArmadilloFarm. The space that Gormanfilled to brimming with folk art is
previously where armadilloshells were transformed and soldas baskets, lampshades, ashtraysand purses.
She lived there as work pro-gressed on the main house andthe property.
A building that housed arma-dillos an eyesore with a critter-keeping 10-foot-deep ditch and 10-foot-tall fence around it wasdemolished. From it, Gorman sal-vaged wide pecky cypress boardsthat now enclose the space underthe stairs in the main house. Therestored one-room rock buildingby the highway, formerly an ar-madillo barbecue stand, will be-come an antiques shop.
One of Gormans greatest chal-lenges in the renovation was add-ing a kitchen, pantry and laun-dry room to the main house. On-
ly a slab remained where theoriginal kitchen had been. Overa period of a hundred-somethingyears, you just do what you haveto, she says of the evolution ofthe house.
The light-filled addition thatspans the back of the house mar-ries well with the original struc-ture, thanks to carefully chosenmaterials and antique furnish-ings. Bricks laid in a herringbonepattern complement pumpkin-col-ored cabinets and maple countersin the kitchen. (Gorman says feis-tily that she wouldnt reveal hercustom paint colors even if sheremembered them, to discouragecopycats.)
Gorman fashioned an islandfrom three pieces. The work areaacross from the sink is an eight-
drawer chest with bin pulls al-
most brand new by her standardsat an estimated 80 years old.Against the back of the chest, sheset a German desk top that lookslike a small trunk atop a low NewEngland table. Above it hangs alight fixture Gorman had madefrom a cone-shaped fire bucket.
One of Gormans many pas-sions is lighting, and she has ev-erything from small oil-burningbetty lamps to an 18th-centuryscissor light to a goat-skin shadedlamp she had fashioned from abrass eagle finial atop a piece oftramp art. She also collects anduses Pennsylvania redwarepottery, pewter, early clotheshangers and treenware, kitchen-ware and implements fashionedfrom single pieces of wood.
Gorman is emphatic about us-
ing what she owns. I wouldnthave anything you couldnt touchor use.
Though it pained her, she says,she cut up handmade crewel fab-ric to make curtains for the livingroom and library. A smart redand teal plaid loveseat in the li-brary wears part of Gormanslarge collection of homespun fab-ric cloth pioneers wove fromthread they spun from flax or cot-ton they grew or wool from theirsheep. She notes the sun will de-teriorate the cloth, so she plans tohave shutters made for the win-dow by the loveseat.
The original house on the prop-erty, a log cabin built in 1854, wastaken down and reconstructed logby log as a back entrance to themain house. Like the rest of thehouse, the buttery the NewEngland term for a pantry isfilled with relics from ages past.Here, Gorman incorporated a setof stairs that years ago foundtheir way from a New Englandhouse to an antiques shop here.The faded blue paint and a treadworn thin from generations ofuse attracted her, though every-body in town thought I was crazyfor buying it.
In their current home, thestairs sit against a wall and riseto the ceiling, their newfoundpurpose to display other objectsand to show off the patina that
comes with time and use.
I just lug stuff around until Ifind a use for it, says Gorman,who began collecting early Amer-ican antiques more than a half-century ago. Her love of oldthings began with a black ironteakettle she discovered in a junk-yard in Tyler.
I thought that was the livingend, she says. I couldnt wait toget home and plant red gerani-ums in it.
Gorman no long has the teaket-tle I wish I did but shelives surrounded by antiques andthe history they impart.
The entryway is filled withpieces from the William andMary era. Her bedroom is QueenAnne. Upstairs, theres a Shakerroom.
Portraits of George Washingtonand Abraham Lincoln hang inthe library, a front room fittedwith custom bookcases painted arich teal and filled with booksabout historical figures. She usedthe same teal color on wainscot-ing, dentil molding and beams. A48-star flag stands in one corner,and a portrait of Thomas Jeffer-son hangs above the loveseat.
This is the love of my life,she says, admiring the Jeffersonportrait. Hes my favorite. Hewas an ingenious American.
A table in the center of theroom displays old marbles andother games, even an old deck of
playing cards, showing that earlyAmericans werent all work. Shemarvels at the handwork on rugsand the craftsmanship of the fur-niture. It was made on some-ones fingers, she says often asshe looks at various pieces in thehouse.
With every item, she can relatea story about where she found it,how it was made or how it wasused.
What you have here is a life-time of love and collecting, Gor-man says. And shes not done.
Theres the barn to renovateand the garden to create at theplace shes contemplating namingGorman-Dillo Farm because Imthe only one who cared enough tofix it up.
Lifetime of love and collecting fill homeCONTINUEDFROM 10E
GLORIA FERNIZ/STAFF
Assorted churns and firkins sit alongside a kitchen island that comprisesthree separate pieces. Gorman added the kitchen to her 1898 house.
Harriette Gormans house will beamong six houses featured onthe Comfort HeritageFoundation Tour of Homes.
When: Noon-5 p.m. April 14.
Tickets: In advance, $12. Call TaxiBreithaupt at (830) 995-5018.Day of tour, $15, starting at 11a.m. at Comfort State BankBuilding, High and Seventhstreets.
Also: Tour booklets available at
Comfort State Bank Building.
SEE FOR YOURSELF
Our plants are growing at 90mph. Warm weather and recentrains have combined to give usmaximum spring growth, or soit would seem. Still, there aresome things you can do to haveeven more success with theplants in your landscape andgarden, and most of them re-volve around proper feedings.
Plants need nitrogen to pro-duce new stems and leaves.Therefore, anytime you want aplant to grow more vigorously,the answer youll hear every-where will be to apply a high-ni-trogen fertilizer.
However, theres a lot more tothe story than that. You see, themiddle number in the three-number fertilizer analysis repre-sents the phosphorus content ofthe fertilizer. Phosphorus pro-motes roots, flowers and fruit, sothe normal conclusion would bethat you need to add more phos-phorus to your flower and vege-table gardens. Right? Well, notso fast. Phosphorus may alreadybe there in plentiful quantities.In fact, your soil may actuallyhave too much phosphorus, tothe point that it adversely affectsthe growth of your plants.
The only way you can tellwhether you have too muchphosphorus is with an accuratesoil test. Its a good idea to haveone run every two or three
years just tomonitor things.Phosphorustends to accu-mulate in claysoils. It leachesaway in loamsand sands but,again, the onlyway to tell forsure is to havethe soil tested.
If the reportsays you needto apply only ni-trogen, believeit and follow its
guidelines nomatter what
type of plant youre trying togrow. Texas has several high-quality, nitrogen-only fertilizers.Ideally, half or more of the nitro-gen should be in slow-releaseform. It may seem odd to addonly nitrogen to a rose gardenor tomato patch, but if thatswhat the soil test suggests, youneed to follow its findings.
The other critical element thatis often deficient is iron. Itsstory is equally complicated, butboiling it all down to the basics,iron comes in two forms: solubleand insoluble. It will be in thesoluble form when soils areacidic, so plants will be able toassimilate any amount that theyneed. In alkaline soils, however,
the iron becomes insoluble andsome plants will begin to showiron deficiency. First signs ofshortages will appear as yellow-ing of the end leaves. As theproblem progresses, the bladeswill turn more yellow but theveins will remain dark green.Eventually the leaves will turnpale green all over. In severecases, they will even be almostwhite, then browned andscorched.
Iron deficiency is also calledchlorosis, and plants that arelikely to show it around San An-tonio include wisterias, ligus-
trums, mimosas, bald cypresses,box elders, cherry laurels and,for anyone who tries to growthem, azaleas, camellias and dog-woods. It can show up in manyother species, but the pattern ofyellowing will always be thesame; that is, on the newestgrowth first.
You might figure you can justadd a little iron to solve allthese shortages, but again, itsnot all that easy. If youre gar-dening in an alkaline soil and ifyou add more iron, it may be-come insoluble, too, just like theiron that is already there. Soyou need to add iron in tandemwith sulfur. The sulfur acts toform sulfuric acid when it getswet, and that will help keep theiron available, at least tempora-
rily.The best ways to solve iron
deficiency follow different paths.You can replace the alkaline soilentirely. Create a planting mixthat has generous amounts oforganic matter. Material such aspeat moss, compost and pinebark mulch are naturally acidic,so iron remains soluble in them.Of course, theyre not inexpen-sive, so you can only justify go-ing to those measures for plantsthat will stay small and whoseroots wont outgrow the pre-pared planting medium. Besttrick of all: Stay away from
plants you know need high lev-els of iron in the first place. Af-ter all, why create a problemwhen its just as easy to create asolution?
Proper feeding is not a diffi-cult or complicated task. It justrequires common sense and alittle bit of study. From thatpoint on, your plants will takecare of the rest.
Neil Sperry is publisher of NeilSperrys Gardens magazine. His
Down to Earth column appearsSaturdays in S.A. Life. Thoughtime does not permit Sperry toanswer individual gardeningquestions, readers may suggesttopics for future columns bysending him an e-mail at
Feeding nitrogen and iron: Theres a trick to it
NEILSPERRY
DOWN
TO EARTH
Easter Dawn WorshipSunrise Service 7:00 a.m.followed by complimentary
Pancake Breakfast &
Easter Egg Hunt for the Children
1530 Kitty Hawk Road Universal City
Easter Day WorshipService 10:30 a.m.
followed by Easter Egg Hunt
for the Children
230 Weil Road Cibolo (just off FM 1103)
Celebrate Easter with us as we worship the Risen Savior! 210-659-3311 www.ursaved.com
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SAN ANTONIO
EXPRESS-NEWS
SATURDAY
APRIL 19, 2008
SECTION F
SpacesBright colors from buttery yellowto vivid red saturate the walls in ahouse featured on a tour todayPAGE 12F
Nothing triggers a nostalgia run likewatching a television program from yourchildhood. Sometimes even the themesong will send you back in time.
The theme from Bonanza has me sit-ting on my paternal grandparentscirca-1970 green shag carpet in San Jose,
Calif. An episode ofHappy Days mentallytransports me to mybeanbag chair in front ofour first color televisionset, and I never hear thetheme from SesameStreet without feelinglike I am back standingin our teeny two-bed-room apartment in Tuc-son, Ariz., watching thevery first episode whilewaiting for the schoolbus to take me to kinder-garten in November 1969.
All old shows are likethat. Mod Squad has
me in back in the basement in Arlington,Va., with my grandmother, Northern Ex-posure brings me back to my newlyweddays, and the theme from Barneymakes me feel like my daughters areagain newborns.
TV has always triggered those mo-ments. Nick at Nite counts on it. Theshows we grew up with remind us ofgrowing up. So I was absolutely tickledwhen my 16-year-old daughter hopped in
Catch the
Brothers
See OROURKE/3F
MICHAEL
OROURKE
Lobelia(Lobelia erinus)
Sometimes the tiniest flowers pack thebiggest punch. Thats the case with lobelia,which produces masses of violet- to indigo-colored blossoms.
Its a small, cool-weather annual thatwill cascade without running amok. Use itin annual borders or in containers. It looks
particularly striking in contrast with thewhite of alyssum or the bright yellow ofpansies or snapdragons.
Light: Sun to part shade.
Size: 4 to 8 inches tall; 12 to 18 incheswide.
Bloom: Spring and fall.
Water: Moderate.
Cultivation: Replace when warm weatherarrives.
G O O D T O G R OW
TRACY HOBSON LEHMANN
Test your knowledge of Fiesta factsagainst other San Antonians.
TODAYS QUESTIONWho were King Cotton, Selamat andOmala?
To check your answer and watch man on
the street responses, go to MySA.com.
Keyword: Fiesta
Call Now!210-494-1313
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BY TRACY HOBSON LEHMANNEXPRESS-NEWS HOME AND GARDEN EDITOR
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